On the evening of May 11, Beijing time, the 2024 WTT Saudi Arabia Grand Slam ushered in the ultimate peak showdown. In the women's singles final that started first, Chen Meng played even better, defeating Sun Yingsha with a total score of 4-2 and winning the championship. The Olympic singles quota places are well deserved.
Sun Yingsha is ranked No. 1 in the world, and has won the mixed doubles championship in this tournament, and the women's singles is on the way to the finals 3-0 Liu Xinyin, 3-0 Tian Zhixi, 4-0 Qian Tianyi, and 4-1 Wang Yidi. Chen Meng is ranked fourth in the world and has won the women's doubles championship in this tournament, with 3-0 Diaconu on the way to the women's singles, 3-0 Miu Hirano, 4-1 Miwa Zhangmoto, and 4-0 Hina Hayada to advance to the final. This is also the second time that the two sides met in the final after Sun Yingsha won the women's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships 4-2 Chen Meng at the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban.
In the first game, Sun Yingsha quickly entered the state and scored a point first with 11-6, after which Chen Meng quickly adjusted, and took the lead in getting the match point in three consecutive cities with 11-5, 11-8, 11-9, and Sun Yingsha led 8-2 in the fifth game, Chen Meng exerted his strength again and chased the score to 6-9, and finally Sun Yingsha pulled back a game 11-6. In the sixth game, Chen Meng started first and led 6-2. After that, Sun Yingsha's mistakes increased, Chen Meng got the match point 10-4, Sun Yingsha was very tenacious and saved four match points, but Chen Meng still seized the opportunity to defeat Sun Yingsha 11-8 to win the women's singles championship!
Congratulations to Chen Meng for winning the championship, which fully demonstrates the heritage and style of the Olympic champion, not only defeated the three major Japanese female players in a row on the way to the championship, but also defeated the world's No. 1 Sun Yingsha, and indeed relied on strength to take the fate into his own hands.
At the same time, congratulations to Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng for both qualifying for the women's singles table tennis at the Paris Olympics. The competition in the Chinese women's table tennis women's singles is a cruel extreme involution, and with only two singles places, everyone has been competing for more than a year in order to qualify. The mid-course revision of the rules, the ups and downs of the athletes themselves, and the behavior of fans all made this selection very exciting. Although it is only a qualification, it is no less difficult than winning the Olympic championship. After all, for Sun Yingsha and Chen Meng, who went to the Olympic Games, the threat to them from the foreign association is far less than that of Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi and Chen Xingtong.
I wish Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha women's singles insurance, so that the national anthem will resound over the Paris Olympics!